Notre Dame torched but spire’s rooster discovered in rubble

Notre Dame will be closed for ‘five to six years’ for repairs, rector announces – as spire’s rooster weathervane feared destroyed is miraculously discovered in the rubble

Bishop Patrick Chauvet said Notre Dame Cathedral would close for ‘five to six years’ on Wednesday

The inferno which ripped across the roof of the cathedral brought down the spire along with its rooster on top

But in an ‘an absolute miracle’, France’s Ministry of Culture brought news the iconic symbol had survived

Rooster contains relics including a thorn of the Holy crown and remnants linked to St Denis and St Genevieve

Cathedral guides described the cockerel as a ‘spiritual lightening rod’ which protected Notre Dame’s faithful

The iconic wrought copper rooster from the top of Notre Dame Cathedral’s spire which collapsed on Monday evening was discovered amongst the rubble on Tuesday

Notre Dame Cathedral will shut its doors for five to six years for repairs the rector has announced, as it was revealed the spire’s famed rooster weathervane was discovered in the smouldering rubble.

Bishop Patrick Chauvet acknowledged the 850-year-old church would shut its doors for ‘five to six years’ as he spoke with local business owners on Wednesday, two days after a blaze torched the roof of the cathedral and brought down its spire.

But in what is being described as ‘an absolute miracle’, France’s Ministry of Culture confirmed that ‘the rooster has been saved.’

‘It’s dented but can be restored,’ said a spokesman. ‘The fear was that it had been burnt and melted in the fire.’

Shocked crowds watched the wrought iron copper weathercock fall to the ground on Monday evening as a fire engulfed the cathedral and destroyed its wooden and lead spire.

There was particular fear for the rooster, because it contains religious relics including one of the 70 thorns of the Holy crown of Jesus Christ, and remnants linked to Saint Denis, the Christian martyr and former bishop of Paris, and Saint Genevieve, the patron saint of the French capital.

According to cathedral guides, the rooster had acted as a ‘spiritual lightening rod’ to protect the Notre Dame faithful.

Jacques Chanut, the president of the French Building Federation, shared a picture of the damaged rooster on Twitter.

The sculpture of the cockerel – which is an unofficial symbol of France – was recovered on Tuesday by a restorer picking through the debris.

Onlookers cried out in anguish as the spire of the cathedral toppled in the inferno which swept ferociously over the roof of Notre Dame on Monday evening

The rooster (left) contains religious relics including one of the 70 thorns of the Holy crown of Jesus Christ, and remnants linked to Saint Denis and Saint Genevieve, and pictured at the top of the spire on Monday night (right)

A ministry spokesman said the rooster had been handed over to religious officials, without elaborating.

An official separately told Le Parisien newspaper that the statue was ‘battered but apparently restorable’.

The official was quoted saying that, when the 19th-century spire had collapsed into the cathedral, the rooster statue had detached ‘and fallen on the good side… away from the seat of the fire’.

Because of the statue’s damage, it was not yet possible to verify if the Crown of Thorns fragment or the other relics were still inside, the official said.

Rector of Notre Dame Cathedral Patrick Chauvet (centre) and Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo (right) arrive at the scene on Tuesday – the rector said it would be closed for ‘five or six years’

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe speaking after the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, he announced a worldwide architects’ competition to rebuild the spire

How did it escape the flames? The golden crucifix standing above a pile of charred debris and twisted timbers

On Wednesday, French PM Edouard Philippe announced a global architects’ competition to rebuild the spire of the cathedral.

Philippe said the competition aims at ‘giving Notre Dame a spire adapted to technologies and challenges of our times.’

President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday he wants the cathedral to be rebuilt in five years, with Philippe adding today: ‘This is obviously a huge challenge, a historic responsibility.’

Yesterday evening, fresh images of the wreckage were released showing the aisle piled high with charred and twisted timbers.

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Near disaster: An aerial view shows the vast extent of the damage to the Notre Dame Cathedral’s roof, where the fire took hold and raged throughout Monday night

A birds-eye view using a drone over the top of Notre Dame Cathedral shows extensive damage to the roof of the church after Monday night’s inferno

The scaffolding still stands around where the he spire stood before it collapsed in breathtaking scenes on Monday night

Scorched stones at the top of the central tower of the cathedral which had housed the spire before it collapsed dramatically on Monday

The cavernous interior of the church exposed to all the elements and the mangled bars of scaffolding after they were melted and bent by the ferocious blaze

The rear of the cathedral beside the Seine river in central Paris after the fire spread rapidly in the lattice of woodwork in the roof known as ‘the forest’

A plunging hole goes all the way through to the cathedral floor as the bars and boards of the scaffolding which had been used for renovations can be seen mangled after the spire fell away

One of the cathedral’s many intricate facades around where the tower stood stands blackened after the searing blaze swept through its windows

Yet it could have been so very much worse. The 850-year-old towers which stand guard over the entrance and the immortal bells hanging within are in one piece. So, too, is some of the stained glass. ‘Our Lady’ lives on, bloodied but unbowed.

At the same time, the fire had produced another miracle of sorts. This avowedly secular country suddenly seemed to have rediscovered its sense of the spiritual yesterday, if only for a few hours.

‘I have never known so many people talking openly about God, about religion and saying prayers in public,’ said caterer Marie-Astrid d’Arras. ‘So many people have become Catholic once again.’

Underpinning all this talk of divine intervention was a single image which first appeared of the golden crucifix still shining at the altar within the sacred site.

The sun rising over Notre Dame Cathedral on Wednesday morning as donations towards its renovation soared to one billion euros

Even avowed atheists took to social media yesterday to profess how moved they had been by this poignant symbol of defiance.

Several Anglophile Parisians said it reminded them of that famous wartime image of St Paul’s Cathedral standing tall during the Blitz.

For the authorities, there were more earthly considerations, notably finding out how this had all happened in the first place. France might be praying a little louder than usual. But it is also pretty angry, too.

Macron cleared yesterday’s Cabinet meetings of all other business to focus exclusively on Notre Dame. Such is the mystical hold this 12th Century Gothic masterpiece has on the national psyche.

An interior view of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris in the aftermath of a fire that devastated the cathedral on Monday

People attend a vigil on Tuesday. Firefighters declared success Tuesday in a more than 12-hour battle to extinguish an inferno engulfing Paris’ iconic Notre Dame cathedral that claimed its spire and roof

A key issue will be the cost. Under French law, the ownership of the cathedral rests with the State but the French taxpayer received a handsome head start yesterday when two of the country’s richest families pledged 300million euros before breakfast.

On Wednesday the figure has soared to an astonishing one billion euros.

As stories began to emerge of the gallantry of the firefighters – and of a particularly heroic priest seen running into the inferno to retrieve some of Notre Dame’s treasures – messages arrived from world leaders, including one from the Queen.

‘Prince Philip and I have been deeply saddened to see the images of the fire which has engulfed Notre-Dame Cathedral,’ she told President Macron. ‘My thoughts and prayers are with those who worship at the cathedral and all of France at this difficult time.’

An aerial view of the Notre-Dame Cathedral engulfed in flames on Monday evening in the French capital Paris

People pray on their knees by the Seine riverside in front of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. The inferno that raged through Notre Dame Cathedral for more than 12 hours destroyed its spire and its roof but spared its twin medieval bell towers

Tomorrow, she will attend her beloved Royal Maundy service at St George’s Windsor, the traditional prelude to Easter Sunday.

There will be no Easter at Notre Dame, for the first time in nearly nine centuries. There was also a message yesterday from the Prince of Wales. ‘I realise only too well what a truly special significance the cathedral holds at the heart of your nation,’ he told Macron.

‘But also for us outside France it represents one of the greatest architectural achievements of Western civilisation. It is a treasure for all mankind.’

People gather at the Place Saint-Michel the day after Notre-Dame Cathedral suffered heavy damage from a massive fire

By way of consolation, he alluded to the Royal Family’s own experience of the 1992 fire which ravaged much of Windsor Castle. ‘Our hearts go out to you and the people of France more than you can ever know, especially in view of our experience with the devastating fire at Windsor Castle 27 years ago,’ the Prince went on.

It was the Prince, together with the Duke of Edinburgh, who led the five-year, £40million rebuilding programme. It more than restored Windsor to its former glory.

Macron would be well advised to pick up the phone to the Queen or her eldest son for a few useful tips on how best to resurrect a medieval treasure.

Other world leaders expressing their solidarity yesterday included Pope Francis, who announced he was placing the Vatican’s heritage experts at France’s disposal.

After all, one of his predecessors, Pope Alexander III, was here to see the foundation stone laid in 1163.

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This graphic shows the scale of the damage to the cathedral, with some artefacts confirmed as safe and others damaged

Before the blaze: This image from drone footage shows the glory of the cathedral’s interior before the devastating fire

The outpouring of international goodwill only added to the emotions encountered in Paris yesterday, including young men playing mournful recitals on the cello.

Here and there, nuns broke into song or prayer. Gawping crowds encircling the cathedral’s island site on either side of the Seine filled miles of pavement and brought traffic to an escargot-style crawl.

In front of Notre Dame itself, a succession of sombre politicians talked of a need for national unity. After months of civil disobedience by the anti-Macron ‘gilets jaunes’ movement, there is a sense that the appetite for organised dissent has waned in the last 24 hours.

‘There is a spirit which lives inside and above this building, one you don’t find in, say, the Eiffel Tower,’ said Ambrose Laurent, secretary of France’s Conference of Bishops.

Then the bishops issued a joint statement saying every cathedral in France would ring its bells today at the precise time when Monday’s fire broke out.

Sitting with his drawing pad next to the Seine, a retired steel executive Robert Gest, 72, sketched the cathedral.

He said he wants to leave it to his grandchildren as a reminder of what happened. ‘There has been so much bashing of the church and religion in this country that perhaps this experience will make people think about it a little more,’ he said. ‘After all, the great cross is still there.’

The inside of Notre Dame with its Gothic architecture and high vaulted ceiling is seen before it was wrecked by the inferno

A view from an upper level of Notre Dame before the interior was ravaged by the fire and the roof and spire destroyed

The nave of the Paris cathedral with pews for the congregation is seen before the blaze which left it exposed to the elements

Some of the ornate artwork is seen inside the cathedral before the blaze. Most of the architecture remains intact today

A drone’s view before the blaze shows the cathedral with the 19th-century spire still standing, before its collapse on Monday